I'm curious. Since you're from Penang, what've you heard about PMC on their quality of education? Any others who know? I wanna know bout the pros/cons.

My father's cousin work as an examiner for their clinical year(something with optometrist) said that PMC students are very very  good as they are trained for the first 2 years in Ireland.

There a lot of discussion throughout this thread but can anyone help me with this question (I'm an STPM student waiting for result):-

1. What is your STPM/Matics etc. result when you get accepted to certain university?
2. Any list of good IPTS recommended? PMC,Monash, etc. in term of cost vs. quality
3. How you pays the enormous tuition fees? Loans? Scholarship?
4. Interviewing process?

Lastly, I'm a Singaporean studying my whole life in M'sia.

5. What is my chances of studying in public university? I heard most don't accept except UIA (which I vying for).

Working medical life in Malaysia is like hell, trust me. All the best to all of you future doctors!

Oh, if you support my statement above! please drop a comment!

I'm just wondering.. but for those of you who got accepted into uni's.. did you get any experience before-hand?

Like shadowing a GP / volunteering at a hospital / etc.

When did you do it?
I just started my A-Levels and I have to send my application off around Sept. this year so I'm wondering if it's a good idea to start now - need to find out how first though

First of all, it's interesting for me to read that you're a Singaporean studying in M'sia. I come from JB so it's more common for me to know Johoreans crossing the causeway daily to study rather than the other way round.

As for your questions, most of them are very hard to answer:
1. Depending on which uni - private ones usually have slightly lower requirements but the competition for places doesn't necessarily makes it easier to enter.

2. Hard to say. Every institution has its pros and cons, and sometimes it's a perception (or misconception if you want) of "the grass is greener on the other side".

3. Self-funded, bank loans, scholarships, etc... there's lots of ways to pay for it, but bear in mind it's not really a good thing to insist on studying medicine if the costs will bankrupt you and your family. Sounds harsh but that's the truth.

4. Interviews for medical school are kinda bullshit anyway. The one that I had for IMU consists of typical talk cock questions such as "why do you want to study medicine" bla bla bla, and a couple of random stuff about your life both academically and extra-curricular activities. IINM, Uni Melb doesn't even have interviews but it might change as they've started the Melbourne Model which is a post-grad course. In short, it's really hard to "prepare" for interviews but you'll need to be articulate and enthusiastic, yet not appear fanatical and aggressive. 

5. Public Unis in M'sia? Get a CGPA of 4.0 first, otherwise it's really hard to even fathom about it. Even 4.0 won't guarantee a place in your desired institution, eg you might only get UKM/UPM instead of UM.
Well private sectors are obviously going to pay you more so your example isn't particularly valid.

you are very naive to think you can go to any med school in msia, and just walk into uk to work......

even if you manage to get into a uk med school, current labour and immigration laws will mean you can only work the 2 foundation years in uk.........getting a job after that would be an uphill task, and even impossible.........

What interests me is that Ibrahimovic states that he has been studying in M'sia for his whole life, which means he's not just another one who's merely here for tertiary education like most foreigners do. The fact is that there are more Chinese/Indonesians (not forgetting our own people esp Johoreans) spending their childhood in Singapore to receive basic and later tertiary education, rather than making Malaysia their preferred destination.

Your example of foreigners coming to Malaysia to gain entry to first world countries is indeed not a surprise. However, Singaporeans in IMU are a new thing for me. During my time over there I didn't exactly meet many of them - Malaysians who studied primary/secondary school in Singapore are pretty common, but not Singaporeans who came over to IMU for pre-clinical years. My experience is that Singaporeans who failed to receive entry to NUS will often go directly to overseas rather than choose to do so via Malaysia/IMU as a temporary gateway.

However, it's been nearly 3 years since I've left IMU so things could have changed drastically by now.

The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) would consider granting medical registration to any persons who possess registrable basic medical degrees obtained from schools listed on the Schedule, subject to an offer of employment with an approved healthcare institution in the public sector. The Penang Medical College and International Medical University are not recognised by the SMC for medical registration. The list of scheduled schools can be found on http://www.smc.gov.sg/html/1153709442948.html.

The local degrees, e.g. IMU completed in seremban are not recognized but if you match with a UK university you should have no problem securing a spot in Singapore because you'll be awarded a UK degree. Trust me, the Singapore government has been sending their representatives to recruit IMU-PMS students every year for the last 2 1/2 years I've been here

If you want to remain in the UK thats another story because of the new work restrictions in place. For my batch matching to an Australia University was more competitive.

If you have any questions you should try and visit the University or talk to the Students affairs department (ask for May Kuan); that way you can also take a look at some of the new nice buildings and halls. At the rate they are going, I think the construction won't be finish until 2011 

Good on you to prioritise on your education, but I still don't think anyone should be too cocky about being "better" than others. Humility is a vital aspect of being in the medical profession.

Anyway, OmniAtlas has explained the IMU-UK Twinning programme as below, so I'll leave this one out. There's no guarantee that you'll be matched to your preferred university be it UK, NZ, Australia etc. No one really knows how the matching process is being conducted despite a short briefing given to students (which doesn't make any sense anyway), and I doubt there's any transparency in it. Just do your best in your studies and pray really hard so that you'll win the russian roulette.
IMU's still building the extensions? Which part are they building now? The admin block which takes up the place of the previous flagpole area should have been completed by now. Unless they are refurbishing the interior of the old building, which at times seem old, creaky, and sometimes leaking when it pours.

all the information about imu is available in the website, and also flyers freely available when you visit.......

there is no fixed fees, as the actual fees you will eventually need to pay depends on which uni you eventually partner to........

however, the 5 sem in bukit jalil is relatively fixed, currently at about rm29k/sem...........

the MAIN disadvantage of the imu-pms system, is the UNCERTAINTY of where you will eventually end up.........which you will only know late into the end of sem 5..........like said, the matching exercise is shrouded in secrecy, nobody really knows how it is worked out........explanation about ranking and computer matching is just hocus pocus......

like i said elsewhere, getting jobs in uk beyond the foundation years is going to be nigh impossible under current laws.......

and finally, i cringe whenever i see people say 'i plan to study medicine in xx or yy uni in zz year'........you don't select the med school, they will select you.......and although the entry cutoff is very low for imu (even lower for pmc), no one can say he will qualify until he gets his results.......

humility is a virtue.........

Dear Sir,

In response to your enquiries, we are sorry that at the moment we cannot
accept foreign students (non-Malaysian citizens) for enrolment in the
medical program at National University of Malaysia simply because we
have limited place for students at the moment and it is currently a
national policy that all places for medical courses to be offered to
locals only at the moment.


Hope that explains everything that you need to know. We thank your
interest in this university.

Assistant Registrar

Undergraduate Studies & Community Relations

Medical Faculty

National University of Malaysia

Don't give up on your dreams -- can you take out loans? I am sure there are educational loans or scholarship that can help with the tuition if you decide to attend a private medical school regardless if its in Malaysia or not. Have you tried asking your college counselor? Google? I know in the US the army can subsidizes medical education costs for its citizens if you serve with them for every year you take out a loan. Malaysia has a similar program. Does Singapore??

Dear xxxxx,

      Thank you for your email.

2        Medical schools off-site from the main campus, e.g. in another city or country for the whole course or for the clinical years are not recognised by SMC for registration. In other words, if you wish to seek medical registration and practise medicine in Singapore, you are required to complete your clinical years and pass your final medical exams in the medical school (as listed in the Schedule) of the country of origin.

3        If you meet the criteria in paragraph 2, you may apply for provisional registration for housemanship training in Singapore after your graduation. Alternatively, you may apply for conditional medical registration with SMC after you have completed your housemanship training overseas. Please note that medical registration is subject to an offer of employment with an approved healthcare institution.

4        Foreign-trained doctors are also required to pass the national licensing examination in the country where they obtained their basic medical qualification (if applicable) before the Council considers their application for registration. E.g. Graduates from the medical schools recognised by the SMC must pass the national licensing exam in the US, i.e. USMLE before they are eligible to apply for medical registration in Singapore.

Thank you

then it's really a matter  of his priority. to work in spore, or become a doctor is more impt. but i guess he wants to work in spore more, since he mentioned IMU dental after u suggested the post grad pathway to him.

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Added on January 16, 2009, 8:01 pmbtw, wat books in internal medicine would ur recommend for a beginner to clincals?

talleys?
macleod?
oxford handbook?
Davidsons?
Kumar?
medicine at a glance?
......

Well, now I'm wondering anyone of you here would like to give me some counselling... On Medicine of course.

First, Is a doctor's life really that busy? Like no afterwork, no adequate rest n relax time?